UN WOMEN Jobs

Organizational Values and Principles:

UN WOMEN is dedicated to advancing gender equality and women’s human rights in Afghanistan. Staff and consultants of UN WOMEN Afghanistan are expected to contribute to a professional working environment in which the strengthening of national capacities and human potential is prioritized.  Respect for diversity and human dignity is required, as is the active pursuit of a collaborative and inclusive approach to both internal and external stakeholders, including colleagues and partners.

 
Summary:

UN WOMEN’s umbrella programme in Afghanistan has the main objective to build Afghan women’s capacity and leadership to enable them to effectively participate in the social, economic and political processes in the country. An extension to this mandate is UN WOMEN’s duty to engage in research, advocacy and policy development activities. This not only helps to inform and strengthen the programmes, but also contributes to UN WOMEN’s task of mainstreaming gender into government strategies, policies and laws.

In 2009, the CEED unit undertook an extensive assessment of women’s economic programming in Afghanistan, including an assessment of economic policies from a gender perspective, with the ultimate goal of redefining the economic strategy to generate greater impact. UN WOMEN’s assessment revealed a need for a combined macro/micro level approach to economic rights, involving capacity building in economic advocacy and mainstreaming gender into strategic economic policies that support women’s access to economic assets.  The assessment also revealed the need to collect sex-disaggregated data in the economic sector to be used in evidenced based advocacy campaigns to mainstream gender into economic policies.  UN WOMEN plans to fill these gaps through the implementation of its new Women’s Economic Rights and Security (WESR) Strategy from 2010-2013. 

UNWomen will also fill these gaps through the implementation of its newly approved project proposal “Economic Security and Rights of Women: Opportunities to Build Sustainable Economic Assets’’ (Sep 2011 – Dec 2013) submitted by the National Committee for UN Women in Finland, with a direct objective of enhancing the legal, socio-economic and political environment through dialogue, advocacy and support to government.

Under the overall supervision of UN Women Deputy Country Director and under the direct supervision of the Unit Manager on Economic Security, the Research National Programme Officer will lead the coordination and facilitation of the implementation of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment programs on research. S/he will be responsible for overall coordination among stakeholders, partners and of the implementation process of various research projects.

 Areas of responsibility include:

1. Design and develop of overall Research Program and implement the selection of Implementing Partners- In collaboration with the Deputy Country Director, WESR Unit Manager and Deputy Unit Manager, the Research NPO will outline research areas for ACO specifically focussing on researches related to women’s economic rights.  The Research NPO under the direct guidance and supervision of WESR Unit Manager will finalize the requests for proposals (RFP) and ensure an appropriate selection process for partners to implement the research program.
2. Follow up and take responsibility to ensure the implementation of the different research projects to be conducted according to the WESR Strategy output 3: A body of Knowledge on women’s economic rights.
3. Manage and Oversee Processes for Finalizing Knowledge Products- The Research NPO will oversee processes for translation, fact checking, editing, design, and publication of selected knowledge products produced through ACO support. The Research NPO will closely work with  the Training Officer and the Capacity Building NPO in conducting trainings for research partner organizations on research methods, methodologies, gender measures, indicators and tools to ensure collection of highly gendered data and analysis with focus on ‘women’s economic empowerment, women’s political participation, women’s participation in peace processes and decision making’.
4. The Research NPO will take a leading role to  identify and distribute existing research to further inform women’s economic advocates and economic decision makers and WESR programs. S/he will advise implementing partners of UN Women’s projects on women’s economic empowerment and women’s engagement in peace building and gender and statistics. S/he will conduct needs assessments, feasibility studies and capacity needs assessment of all implementing partners.
5. The Research NPO, with support from relevant programme staff, will lead the process to document and share experiences and lessons learned on ‘women’s economic empowerment, women’s political participation, women’s participation in peace processes and decision making and prepare reports including archiving the research using the UN Women Afghanistan Country Office’s knowledge management system.   
6. Partnership Management and Ongoing Technical Assistance - The Research NPO will work in coordination with the Deputy Country Director and the Unit Manager of WESR to ensure that obligations of all research partners are adequately met. The NPO will serve as a liaison between UN Women and implementing partners on research projects. The NPO for research will also be expected to provide ongoing technical assistance to all partners involved in research, guiding them on the needs and expectations of UN Women as per the agreements.  This will require supervision, management and oversight of the research projects commissioned on ‘women’s economic empowerment, women’s political participation, women’s participation in peace processes and decision making’ including responding to queries related to the design of research plans, implementation of research, and the production of knowledge products and ensure the timely submission and receipt of quality technical and financial reports. The Research NPO will review and give the needed guidance to partners relating to financial and technical reports.   
7. Monitoring and Evaluation- The Research NPO will have a leading role in monitoring and evaluation of research activities and projects, including assurance of relevant, high quality outputs by partners, production and distribution of knowledge products to wide range of policy mangers and programmer, measuring results in line with the program results framework, and reporting to Unit Manager of WESR on challenges in implementation and lessons learned.  The Research NPO will also travel to the field as appropriate to conduct baseline surveys and to oversee data collection processes of partner agencies.

1. Strong analytical skills and experience of working with research institutes.
2. Excellent time management skills, demonstrated capacity of programme management,  multi-tasking and working effectively under pressure for extended periods and the ability to meet strict deadlines
3. Demonstrated experience of working in challenging knowledge-based and results based management environment
4. Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments.  Knowledge of the aid effectiveness agenda and how it relates to gender a plus.
5. Ability to engage substantively with networks of professionals in research and others in this field. Enough experience of working in professional research institutes as well as having background on conducting trainings on research methods and methodologies and gender issues.  
6. Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Dari/Pashto
7. Ability to work independently and be able to effectively interact with various constituencies, preferably experience with key government ministries and women focused organizations
8. Resourcefulness, initiative and a high sense of responsibility, preferably experience of working with UN and experience of managing projects and team.  
9. Demonstrated sensitivity, discretion, tact, and courtesy in relation to gender equality and women’s rights, development principles, implementing partners, and national and international personnel of varied nationalities and backgrounds
10. Commitment to upholding the organizational values and principles of UN Women.

2.       Experience and proven technical expertise in research particularly in the economic sector and/or with a focus on gender is must and familiarity with UN mandates in Afghanistan in general and UNWomen in particular is highly desired.

3.       Proven competency and experience in conducting trainings for government officials, Civil Society members and other stakeholders on qualitative research methods and methodologies, gender measures, indicators, tools and gender-mainstreaming  

4.       Experience in writing project documents, proposals and project reports;

5.       Working experience and knowledge of programming and procedures of the UN system and/or donor agencies will be an advantage

6.       A proven ability to liaise with a myriad of stakeholders and partners, including government, civil society, international organizations and grassroots organizations in the economic sector.  A proven ability and experience to oversee implementation of programming through institutional partners, particularly research projects implementation through institutional partners within UN Agencies is highly desired.

7.       Experience in leading complex, multi-province field research projects, producing research materials such as questionnaires, and producing professional research on issues related to women and economic rights.

8.       An understanding of the social, cultural, and political context of Afghanistan and its relation to gender issues